Balenciaga's Alexander Wang makes his own mark

PARIS - New York golden boy Alexander Wang on Thursday stamped his own "footprint" on the fabled Balenciaga label in one of the most keenly anticipated shows of Paris fashion week.

Among the hottest names in fashion, 29-year-old Wang's ready-to-wear spring/summer 2014 collection followed a well-received February debut for which he delved into the archives to pay tribute to founder Cristobal Balenciaga.

Speaking backstage after the show, he said that having started with "the homage" he had been keen to use his second show to express his own personality.

"I wanted to... take this season to really start putting some footprint into it, making it relatable to what I thought was important and bringing some of my vocabulary of sportswear into it," he said.

The collection in a largely blue and white dominated palette featured thigh-skimming hemlines along with tiny, high-waisted shorts teamed with midriff-baring cropped tops.

Initial reaction on Twitter was positive.

"Emphatically short, relentlessly young," said fashion blog IndyFashion.

"No pants? No problem!" added Wonderland Magazine of jackets worn on their own.

Born in California to Taiwanese parents, Wang launched his own label—a mix of relaxed chic and streetwise edge—in 2007 when he was just 23.

The designer is seen as a prodigious talent by the fashion world with coverage regularly characterised by the use of superlatives.

His first Balenciaga collection was "nothing short of masterful," said magazine Harper's Bazaar earlier this year, adding that in person he was "almost supernaturally beautiful".

Wang's arrival at Balenciaga in 2012 followed the surprise departure of Nicolas Ghesquiere after 15 years at the fashion house.

His Thursday show was one of two expected highlights of the week, along with Hedi Slimane's Monday collection for Saint Laurent.

Nine days of women's ready-to-wear fashion for spring/summer 2014 is due to wrap up on Wednesday. — Agence France-Presse